speakers:

Session: Panel discussion - Tech innovations and sustainability in commercial property

As Head of Asset Management Services (AMS) at Knight Australia, Lisa oversees the delivery of a full suite of asset management services including asset management advisory, property management, facilities management, property accounting, and community engagement, for institutional and private investors across all sectors. Technology is a key component of each of these services, and Lisa has been instrumental in transforming Knight Frank's technology roadmap and delivery strategy, with a focus on agility, integration, and analytics. Lisa has a passion for empowering leadership, open communication, and places that generate great returns by contributing to community, productivity and wellbeing.

Session: Managing and protecting against cyber security breaches – legal response and risk management

Monique is an experienced commercial lawyer with special expertise in technology transactions.

She has strong experience acting for clients in the private and public sectors across the full spectrum of commercial and technology matters, including as a key adviser to the NSW and Commonwealth governments on a number of major projects of State and national significance. Her experience spans:

• the procurement and contracting of goods and services;
• grant and funding agreements;
• major systems integration projects;
• PropTech and InfraTech;
• outsourcing and managed services;
• the utilisation of cloud-based solutions;
• software development, licensing and support;
• artificial intelligence and emerging technologies; and
• data sharing agreements and the leverage of big data.

She is skilled at developing plain-English contractual documents that are tailored to the project and are legally and commercially robust.

Another core part of Monique's practice is privacy law and data protection. She is regularly called upon to assist clients to navigate privacy legislation and to undertake privacy impact assessments. She also crafts tailored privacy provisions for contracts to ensure that contracts are aligned with all relevant privacy laws, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Session: Design and construction – the artificial intelligence and generative design story

Anycie Barakat is a highly skilled Computational Designer with over 10 years in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry. Her speciality is in using AI and Generative Design to create web-based digital assessment tools that instantly assess building designs for compliance against specific planning controls.

Anycie teaches contemporary design software in the Architecture & Planning industry with a Master of Architecture (M.Arch) from University of Technology, Sydney. She has guest lectured, presented and tutored architectural and computational design at universities worldwide and her work regarding predictive urban analytics and generating urban form has been published in multiple international journals.

Session: Emerging international proptech trends for 2023

Amanda is Head of Technology for Cbus Property.  She is a strategic technology executive with 10+ years of experience driving innovative technology strategies and complex cloud solutions within competitive commercial environments.  Amanda has proven experience in delivering adaptive and agile IT solutions and guiding businesses through digital transformation to ensure increased competitiveness and profitability.  

Amanda joined Cbus Property in a newly created role to develop and implement a technology and data strategy, with a focus on directing business critical, strategic transformation of IT services and managing the increasing cyber security landscape.

Prior to joining Cbus Property, Amanda was the Chief Information Officer at Gadens, where as a member of the executive management team, she was responsible for the strategic development, delivery and support of information and digital solutions. In this role Amanda was instrumental in Gadens being recognised as a leader in technology and one of Australia’s most innovative law firms.

Session: Panel discussion - Tech innovations and sustainability in commercial property

As the Chief Impact Officer at GBCA, Jorge ensures GBCA’s strategic priorities, partnerships, products and services, including Green Star, accelerate the transformation of Australia’s built environment – delivering healthier, more resilient, and positive places for people and nature.

He chairs WorldGBC’s Global Commitment for Net Zero Carbon Buildings Taskforce and WorldGBC’s ESG working group. He is also a member of Climate Bond Initiative’s Low Carbon Buildings Technical Working Group, GRESB’s Real Estate Standards Committee, Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor’s Global Industry Committee, and the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative’s Technical Working Group. He is also a Board Director at GreenFleet.  

He’s co-authored GBCA's ‘A Climate Positive Roadmap’ for buildings and precincts, which set out targets to decarbonise the built environment as well as ‘Building with Nature’, which set out a path to bring nature back into our cities, ‘Resilience in the built environment’, a primer on the topic, and ‘A Practical Guide to Electrification’ for new buildings and existing buildings. He’s also been part of WorldGBC’s ‘From Thousands to Billions: Coordinated Action towards 100% Net Zero Carbon Buildings by 2050’ and ‘Bringing embodied carbon upfront’ a ground-breaking call to action for reducing our carbon emissions from construction and materials.

His expertise includes sustainable buildings and communities, life cycle assessment, adaptation and resilience, social equity, economic resilience, financing of green outcomes, and health and wellbeing in the built environment.

Session: The disrupted journey to a smarter building

As Head of Smart Building Technology, Jon is responsible for overseeing the strategic deployment of Building Technology and Innovative solutions across the portfolio. He leads the building technology team who research and trial emerging technologies with a focus on solving real problems with scalability to deliver the next generation of cutting edge digitally enabled buildings.

With over 35 years' experience in Systems Integration, Energy Management and Building Performance Optimisation, Jon has been on an industry journey from analogue to digital systems, and the current trend in data-driven cloud IoT technologies.

Session: Redefining Commercial Real Estate Agreement

Session: Panel discussion - ESG in commercial property development, operations, and maintenance

Danny De Sousa is the Vice President of ESG and Innovation for Brookfield Properties and is responsible for the delivery of Brookfield Properties' sustainability program across the Australian portfolio. This includes utilities procurement, performance improvement initiatives, reporting and tenant engagement. Danny is also involved in Brookfield Properties’ smart building work stream and has been with the business since 2012.

Session: Panel discussion - Commercial real estate and the new technological frontier

With 30+ years’ experience dedicated to real estate and technology, Bernie is a leader in digital transformation in real estate and using data to create a more competitive and collaborative environment. Currently responsible for the growth of Yardi Systems in Asia Pacific, Bernie lives in Hong Kong and is a qualified accountant and economist.

He supports real estate clients with Retail, Commercial, Industrial, Residential and Mixed-Use assets, helping them to grow their operations, create efficiencies, and gain better insight into their business. His expertise includes asset and investment management, private equity, operations improvement, program and project management, finance, technology implementation and compliance.

Bernie has led large-scale technology projects, as well as led and supported Proptech start-ups, across Australia, the USA, Middle East, Asia and Europe. He has over 60 publications to his name, and extensive public speaking experience. He is actively working with several charities focused on the marine environment and feeding those in need in Hong Kong.

Session: Panel discussion - ESG in commercial property development, operations, and maintenance

As Executive Director of Avani, Albert leads the team in making its clients’ sustainability targets a reality. Avani’s leading building technology automates environmental performance and reduces carbon emissions by providing easy, real-time access to data from all buildings and accurate, portfolio-wide reporting.

With a background in management consulting, Albert brings a wealth of commercial and property sector experience to his role. In turn, Avani has developed a strong, near 20-year track record of deploying its unique technology across more than 250 building integrations.

Session: Panel discussion - Tech innovations and sustainability in commercial property

James is Head of Product Development at NABERS. His team of designers and developers work with data, research and collaborative approaches to create new - and strengthen existing - pathways to bring NABERS to buildings.

A large part of James’ role is managing technology innovation, design and development for the NABERS suite of products. His team are currently expanding NABERS to new sectors including warehouses and cold stores, and emerging areas like embodied emissions.

James brings a background in information technology, digital innovation and marine science to his work at NABERS.

Session: Undertaking a stocktake of your current technologies to determine the best place for future investment

Len Garvey is an experienced technical leader with a demonstrated history of working in the online media industry. He is dedicated to building and leading amazing engineering teams and leaders. Len is an engineering professional skilled in Agile Methodologies, AWS, Microservices, Docker, JavaScript, and Ruby.

Session: Data forecasting - moving into the next evolution of predictive analytics

With a proven track record, Lisa Harries is a management and integration professional with experience in the media industry under News Corps' community and youth publications and Pacific Magazines youth brands. She thrives in creative environments that push boundaries and inspire.

Session: An Evolution in Sustainability: Q&A with Vicinity Centres

Nick joined Vicinity Centres in 2015 following the merger of Federation Centres and Novion Property Group as the General Manager, National Operations covering operations, procurement, operational compliance and capital programs, with Nick recently appointed as General Manager, Business Development, Energy and Media Partnerships focused on building new growth initiatives, for Vicinity, across these areas.

Prior to the merger, Nick worked at Federation Centres, Transurban, JP Morgan Chase and IBM in procurement, operations and corporate services roles.

Nick has previously held local, regional and global positions and spent 10 years working in the USA and Singapore.

Session: Successfully managing the sophisticated and demanding commercial tenant

Robert Johnston is a Partner, Tenant Representation - Office, at Knight Frank. Formally a National Director in the Occupier Services team at Cushman & Wakefield for the past 11 years, Robert now has over 22 years of commercial real estate experience in office leasing and acqusition work in London, UK and Australia nationally.

Robert qualified as a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS Oceania) in December 2004 having graduated with Honours’ in Valuation and Estate Management.

Robert is a Registered Valuer and Licensed Real Estate Agent. Robert previously worked for Cushman and Wakefield and Atis Real, (now BNP Paribas Real Estate), Europe’s leading commercial real estate services group before moving to Australia.

Robert’s specialist knowledge in the commercial real estate market for clients in Australia has been built from a solid background of advising Landlord and Tenant clients in commercial acquisitions and leasing in London.

Robert has continued to develop strong relationships and negotiate intricate transactions for multiple occupiers in Sydney and nationally ranging from 1,000 up to 15,000 sq.m.

Robert’s strengths include providing detailed commercial advice to tenants on lease renewals, lease re-structuring, rent reviews and re-locations within the metropolitan Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth markets.

Robert remains involved in developing and promoting RICS and professionalism in his field, and worked with fellow RICS members to draft and publish a Tenant Representative RICS guidance note for circulation within Australia.

During 2020 - 2021 Robert conducted over 38,000 sq.m of lease negotiations on behalf of Corporate clients nationally and is considered a market leader in his field of expertise.

Session: Maximising efficiency in your commercial leasing with the latest technology innovations

Ed Lower is the Head of Property - Leasing and Acquisitions at ForHealth Group. He previously held a National Leasing Manager role at Healius Limited and was also a Senior Manager at CBRE, amongst several other senior roles in the property industry.

Session: Panel discussion: Commercial real estate and the new technological frontier

As Chief Operating Officer, Chris is responsible for the strategy, sales, customer account management and commercial performance of MobileDOCK.    Chris’s focus is on growing the business and aligning the requirements of customers with MobileDOCK’s product development roadmaps.

Prior to MobileDOCK, Chris has held senior positions at Telstra and PricewaterCoopers in a variety of roles covering technology product development, strategy, and finance.

Session: Panel discussion - ESG in commercial property development, operations, and maintenance

A sustainability leader committed to transformational change, Elham Monavari led the creation of the new Green Star Homes rating tool for the Green Building Council of Australia. This revolutionary rating tool promises to drive down emissions by 70,000 tonnes over the next decade. Elham’s 20- year commitment to sustainability in the built environment has delivered many other dividends: a liveability survey for Mirvac, ambitious waste targets for local government and higher sustainability standards for high-profile projects in the United Arab Emirates, for example. A collaborator dedicated professional and powerful role model, Elham is now focused on ensuring the Green Star rating system is ready for a digital future.

Elham won the National Association for Women in Construction Award for Contribution to Sustainability 2021.

Session: Panel discussion - Tech innovations and sustainability in commercial property

Zoe is an enthusiastic and dedicated Associate at Norman Disney and Young working across masterplanning, buildings and advisory projects for all sectors. Leading the Sustainability team for the NSW region, she is an integral part of the NDY Global Sustainability Group. Zoe has worked on leading edge developments across Australia and has a particular interest in the application of rigorous sustainability frameworks such as Green Star, WELL and NABERS. She has drawn on this experience to assist clients in developing innovative and effective solutions for the construction and operation of their buildings.

Session: Examining the role proptech and data plays in modern commercial offices

John is a commercial real estate professional with a passion for tackling complex business issues in order to develop and implement workplace solutions for owners and occupiers of office space. He is fascinated by the opportunities presented for knowledge workers across the globe by the magnitude and pace of change occurring in work practices, as we progress through the steppingstone of hybrid working, and towards truly liberated working.

John joined Hub Australia to lead the property team in early 2018. John has developed a strong multi-disciplinary skill set through various roles in the property industry with CBRE, DTZ, Knight Frank, and Hub Australia, both in Australia and in Europe. He has held a range of senior positions across project management, occupier solutions and office leasing, as well as running Knight Frank’s multi-disciplinary North Shore business in Sydney. John is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), a Class 1 licenced real estate agent, and a speaker at property and workplace industry events.

Session: Redefining Commercial Real Estate Agreement

Session: An Evolution in Sustainability: Q&A with Vicinity Centres

Heinrich has more 20 years’ experience in Facilities Management and PropTech across multiple countries, including the UK, South Africa, Dubai, and Canada. He established and grew the Asia Pacific headquarters for London-based FSI (Facilities Software International) in Australia before it was acquired by MRI Software in 2021.

MRI Software is the largest PropTech company in the world with more than five decades of experience creating technology solutions tailored for the real estate industry, including integrated commercial facility management solutions for single-site buildings to multi-site or multinational operations.

Today, Heinrich serves as MRI Industry Principal of Facilities Management Solutions for APAC based in Sydney, Australia. He is well-respected across the industry as a passionate advocate for technology solutions that build sustainability, data visibility and mobile connectivity for estate owners, operators and occupier clients.

Heinrich holds both a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He started his career as a solicitor, working in litigation and contract law in Cape Town and London for six years before pursuing an interest in Information Technology and facilities management.

Session: Using sustainability to increase ROI and reduce expenditure

Parag has over 18 years’ experience in built environment sustainability with a focus on strategy, developments and existing assets working with listed and unlisted property companies, infrastructure construction company, government property agency, and consultants. At present he is the National Manager - ESG (Property) at Australian Unity, responsible for ESG strategy and outcomes (Asset classes include - Office, Shopping Centres, Industrial/ Warehousing, Healthcare (Hospitals, Medical Centres, Allied Health), Childcare, Disability Care, Retirement Villages, Student Accommodation etc).

Parag holds degrees in Architecture, Civil Engineering, Environmental Science and Law. He is a NABERS Auditor, Greenstar AP, Infrastructure Sustainability AP, Climate Active Registered Consultant, CBD Assessor, NABERS UK Supervisor and Auditor, Certified Energy Manager, and a Certified M&V Professional.

Session: Improving ESG performance through the use of technology

Kate provides leadership across Colliers Real Estate Management Services platform including business operations, technical solutions, systems and sustainability.

She is focussed on the direction of Colliers Real Estate Management Services by providing technical leadership and guidance across the Real Estate Management Services portfolio.
Kate seeks to drive growth for the REMS team through client engagement, enhancing service offerings, business improvement, technical and sustainability initiatives.
Kate's focus is developing new offerings, delivering projects and providing multi-discipline technical services. Kate delivers solutions for clients in areas such as technical and commercial advisory, asset re-positioning, due diligence, engineering design, renewable developments and operational performance across Asia-Pacific.

Session: The roadmap to net-zero real estate – where we are and what we do next

An inspirational leader with more than 20 years’ experience in property, Nicholle Sparkes manages and leads high-performing sustainability, construction, heath safety and environment teams across the country in the delivery of quality projects that her team is proud to work on, and that customers are proud to live and work in. Through her leadership, her team benefits from a safe work environment where risk is carefully managed, compliance is assured and promises to customers are kept.

Session: Panel discussion - ESG in commercial property development, operations, and maintenance

Su-Fern Tan is Head of ESG for CBRE’s Pacific Region, responsible for driving ESG solutions for clients and for the business. With her background in engineering Su-Fern is on a mission to accelerate and scale ESG impact using data and technology.

Prior to joining CBRE Su-Fern held senior positions with Arup, Alexandria Real Estate Equities and technology start-up Prescriptive Data.
Su-Fern has experience which spans investors, occupiers, design and construction which includes leadership of one of the world’s largest corporate real estate sustainability programs that delivered significantly positive impacts.

Su-Fern relocated back to her home in Australia in early 2021 and serves as Chair of the GBCA’s Expert Reference Panel on Sustainable Fit Outs, Property Counci of Australia’s NSW Sustainability Committee, and continues to serve on New York City’s Local Law 97 Technical Pathways for Commercial Buildings Working Group, and on the Boards of Pace University New York, and Sustainable Westchester.

Session: Panel discussion - Commercial real estate and the new technological frontier

Having worked in the Finance industry for over 18 years, Domonic Thompson has developed a specialised skill set that he brings to his role of National Segment Head in Macquarie’s Business Banking team, specifically working within the property services sector of Real Estate.

He’s been with Macquarie Business Banking since June 2006, and in this time he’s seen major advances in the technologies available to customers, helping to cut through the day-to-day operations that come with this highly regulated industry. Domonic is not about simply providing solutions with a product, but helping his clients strive for and achieve more.

Session: Finding the technology that will make a real difference to occupant services and improve the commercial tenant experience

Carolyn is a senior IT executive with a record of delivering technology and business solutions across a range of industries and technical platforms. She is passionate about using technology as a strategic enabler for business innovation and growth.

Carolyn has recently stepped into the role of Asia Pacific lead for Spark – JLL’s venture capital fund. Carolyn is responsible for strategic relationship management with JLL Spark Venture Fund portfolio of start-up companies and external partnerships to promote growth and co-development opportunities.

Prior to that, for the past 12 years Carolyn headed the Property & Asset Management Business Technology team of JLL; initially focused on Australia, then extended to Asia Pacific, delivering a transformation program that has re-engineered and digitised the day to day functions for staff and provides clients with a continually improving reporting and service delivery suite.

Session: Panel discussion: Commercial real estate and the new technological frontier

Princess Ventura is an economist with years of international and local experience.

Princess has studied and worked in the Philippines, the United States, Sri Lanka and Australia. She previously worked at The World Bank, advising governments on policies to reduce poverty and promote economic growth. At Urbis, Princess applies the same expertise in economic research and analysis to help clients make evidence-based decisions to design cities and places that work.

Princess specialises in:

• Market demand assessment for all land uses
• Highest and best use analysis
• Network strategy
• Economic impact assessment
• Economic forecasting and analysis
• Visitation and revenue forecasting
• Expert witness on the economic impact of proposed property developments
• Economic development strategies

Session: Panel discussion - ESG in commercial property development, operations, and maintenance

“As Director, Asset Management & ESG Oscar is responsible for the development and implementation of Aliro’s Asset Management Platform, along with the execution of the group’s ESG strategy.

Oscar has over 12 years’ of property experience with a strong foundation in Asset Management, having started his career with listed REIT Dexus, before joining global investment firm, Pembroke. In these roles, Oscar managed portfolios in Australia’s core markets and was responsible for leasing, financial performance, asset repositioning and building strong customer relationships.

With a solutions-based approach, Oscar currently leads Aliro’s Asset Management and ESG teams to execute portfolio strategies, delivering positive outcomes for their investor and tenant customers.”